


At First Sight

by Syntax



Series: 50k Challenge Oneshots [10]
Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff without Plot, Ghost walks Bretta to the Stag Station, Meet-Cute, No Dialogue, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:46:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22687957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Syntax/pseuds/Syntax
Summary: She never thought anyone would come for her.
Relationships: Bretta/The Knight (Hollow Knight)
Series: 50k Challenge Oneshots [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1627744
Comments: 6
Kudos: 78





	At First Sight

She never thought anyone would come for her.

The Fungal Wastes were not so far from Dirtmouth, but they were certainly far enough that search parties were unlikely. Bretta could still remember leaving town, heading down the well with the few bugs that she'd ever managed to call friends, hoping to explore the old kingdom that lie beneath their feet and make their names as adventurers. It had all sounded so grand back then. So wondrous. So romantic. There hadn't been anyone in the group at the time that she could see herself having a happy life with, but there was always the chance that she could meet someone deep in the kingdom's depths...

And then she'd been left behind. Her friends had been arguing about their dwindling food supply. There were so many monsters in Hallownest, so many beasts riddled with some strange orange poison that made them all but inedible. She'd offered to go out in search of edible mushrooms from the Fungal Wastes, eager to do anything to help her dear friends... And when she'd come back with enough food for all of them, their camp was gone. The tents were missing, the fire was put out. It was like her friends had never been there at all.

Bretta almost wondered if they'd been struck by the madness she'd heard lurked in Hallownest and forgotten about her, or if they'd been waiting for the chance to leave her behind. Almost, because she couldn't bear the thought that her friends had never truly been her friends.

She couldn't stay in the camp-that-wasn't. She had no way to defend herself from the beasts. So Bretta dried her tears and went back to the Fungal Wastes. It was warm there, at least, and she already knew how to find food. She could just sit tight and carve a meager little life for herself there, waiting until her friends realized she was missing and went to look for her in the last place she said she'd be, and they could all resume their adventure and pretend this whole incident never happened.

Bretta didn't know how long she'd been waiting, but she knew that the bug who eventually came for her was not one of the ones she'd gone adventuring with.

They were small, smaller than her at her full height surely, but the presence around them seemed so much larger. Their mask shined like porcelain or pale ore, their tattered travelling cloak shined like the remains of once-grand wings, and the nail upon their back looked formidably sharp. Bretta couldn't smell any identifying pheromones from them, not sex nor species nor social caste, but the mystery of who her savior could be only served to make them even more alluring. Almost as if they were some legendary figure, hiding their identity in the new world...

She'd stuttered out her thanks. Mumbled too many apologies. She debated telling her savior of what had happened to her, the adventure and the errand and the abandonment, but her nerves failed her at the last moment. No savior so grand could possibly want to know the story of a dumpy little girl from Dirtmouth. Bretta had dusted the mushroom spores off of her carapace and said her goodbyes, intending to head back to town all on her lonesome however long that might take her.

And then her savior had offered her a friendly claw, black as the void and just as chilly. They lead her down to the Queen's Station, slaying or avoiding any beasts in their path and guiding Bretta by the claw across steep jumps and acid pools. She felt exhilarated. She felt wanted. She felt like she was on a real adventure again. And then when they reached the Queen's Station, she felt like suddenly her adventure was over.

What could she say to her savior? What thanks could she give them? What words of joy? Would she even see them again after their parting, or would this brief meeting between them be the last they ever know?

Bretta didn't want to find out. But she knew that she could only slow her savior down in their own adventure through Hallownest. So she gathered what courage she had and told her savior that she would be waiting for them in Dirtmouth should they ever desire her company again. Her savior spoke not a word in return, but Bretta swore she could see them nod ever so slightly. That would have to be enough.

She said her final goodbyes and departed, and hoped beyond hope that it wouldn't be for good.

So she had met someone down in old Hallownest after all...

**Author's Note:**

> this was supposed to be a lot longer but i couldn't figure out how to word it and just got frustrated and decided to try again with a different fic. it's fine. this archive could use more ghost/bretta anyways.


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